The Agathon: Book One (21 page)

Young was first to hit the riverbed. He took the descent like a practiced spelunker. Tyrell had some difficulty with his footing and lost his balance a number of times. Chavel coached him down eventually and the three men detached their harnesses from their cable, leaving them dangling against the rock. The riverbed was flat. The only thing protruding was the
oddly
-shaped rock formation at its centre.

“Okay, let’s take a look,” Young said and started walking.

Chavel turned to Tyrell. “You okay there, Doctor?” he asked, wondering why he was hesitating.

“Fine, Lieutenant. Lead the way,” he said with a hint of frustration in his voice. They made their way across the grey landscape. From above they would have looked like three black ants walking across a pavement. Young was the first to speak when they approached the formation.

“Its edges are smooth,” he said. They stood in front of it. Young reaching towards its leading wall. It had a fashioned and angular appearance.

“Twenty
-two meters from base to tip,” said Chavel, who had a hand scanner directed at its pointed tip. Young was running his fingers over the surface and brushing off dust.

“Tyrell, what do you make of this?” he said, uncovering grooves in the stonework. Tyrell stood and looked at what Young was pointing at. There were definitely patterned grooves on the surface of the rock. Tyrell’s eyes widened as they shifted to one of complete focus on the markings. He placed the case he was carrying on the soil and opened it. He withdrew a
cube
-shaped instrument and pressed a glowing light on one of its sides. Three
meter
-long struts shot out from its base and he positioned it in front of the rock.

“What’s that?” asked Chavel.

“It’s a high intensity atomic mapping imaging array,” said Tyrell. “It will date and render an analysis on the stone and the markings.”

“There’s a pattern here,” said Young. His face was pressed up against the stone as he pushed away more debris from its surface.

“Jerome, please step back for a moment, would you?” Young and Chavel took a step back as Tyrell pressed the activation sequence on the cube. It seemed to turn transparent as an array of blue lasers shot out from its centre and scanned every inch of the rock, rendering a
three
-dimensional floating image on top of it. It only took a few seconds, but when it was done a perfect
glass
-like facsimile of the object floated on the scanner.

“Tyrell to Agathon,” he said into his face plate.

“Barrington here,” said the captain.

“John, patch me through to Carrie, please. She’s in my lab,” Tyrell said. He looked over at Chavel and gave him a little smile.

“Of course, Doctor,” came his swift reply.

“Carrie here, Doctor,” came her calm voice.

“Carrie, I’m sending you data of a rock formation we’ve found out here. Can you link to the imager designated scan alpha and upload the data to the network in the lab, please? Then begin a subatomic resonance report on it.”

“Of course, Doctor. Linking up now,” she said. They waited for a moment.

“Link secure, Doctor. Beginning transfer,” Carrie said.

“Thank you, Carrie. Tyrell out,” he said, severing the communications link. Young had gone back over to the rock.

“So, what are we looking at here, Mr Young?” said Chavel.

“I don’t know yet, David. Just a hunch. Doctor Tyrell, can that device scan below the surface?” he asked, turning to Tyrell. Tyrell seemed to be anticipating his next question, as his repositioned the cube at a ninety degree angle to the ground.

“Yes, it can,” he said when he had finished.

“You thinking there’s more to see?” asked Chavel. Young hunched up his shoulders. Tyrell hit the activator and the trio stared at the dusty grey soil, as the lasers scanned the surrounding area around the rock. Chavel looked off into the distance, as the cube completed its scans and sent the information back to The Agathon.

“Barrington to Doctor Tyrell,” came the female voice in all their head sets.

“Yes, Carrie, go ahead,” said Tyrell.

“Doctor, the last set of images you sent are showing a large cavernous structure one hundred meters under the surface. Definitely not natural. There are polymer and metallic alloyed foundations. I think we’re looking at something constructed.” Beta team looked at each other.

“Carrie, can you get a detailed rendering of the markings we are seeing on the exposed surface?” said Young, unable to contain his excitement.

“I think you should do another scan to be sure, but the computer is running pattern recognition permutations on them now. Could be the remnants of an ancient civilisation by the looks of it,” she said.

“Jesus,” said Chavel.

“We have to get down there,” announced Young, his eyes wide.

“Hang on, Jerome, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” interrupted the captain’s voice.

Young looked surprised. He had forgotten that the bridge was monitoring all communications.

“Captain, we can’t possibly walk away from this. We’ve just discovered evidence of an advanced alien civilisation. We have to at least try to find out what we can about them. They may have had direct contact with the signal makers at one stage,” he finished.

“Tyrell?” said the captain.

“It’s not beyond the bounds of reason, John. We are, after all, on a direct course with what we postulate is their home world,” he answered.

“What timeframe are we looking at to excavate the site and gain access to the structure?” asked the captain.

“There appears to be an opening
ninety
-seven meters directly under the position of the protruding rock face,” said Carrie

“Judging by the depth and the drilling equipment we have on board The Agathon, no more than
twenty
-two hours,” answered Young. There was silence over the comm.

“Gentlemen, I need not remind you that our primary concern is locating a habitable world, not conducting archaeological digs on other planets. I am conscious of other concerns regarding the safety of this ship,” said the captain. “Alpha team tells me we are currently six hours away from being able to lift off and I intend to adhere to that schedule. Do what you need to do within that timeframe, but once Alpha team has completed repairs I want you back on this ship.”

“Captain, we cannot abandon this without...”

“Those are my instructions, Mr. Young,” Barrington interrupted. “Lieutenant, get Beta team prepped and ready to go by
seventeen
-thirty hours, clear?”

“Very clear, sir,” Chavel rounded off.

“Barrington out.” Young looked at Chavel, clearly not happy with the decision. Chavel shrugged.

“He’s right, Mr Young, we didn’t come here for this. We have people depending on us and if anything happens to us on this planet we won’t get a second chance at this,” he said. Young looked at the structure and shook his head.

“Tyrell, what can you get from under the surface?” he asked.

Tyrell raised his eyebrows. “Six hours doesn’t give us much time. I could calibrate the cube to a refined scanning beam and try and get a more accurate fix, but I think we should take a more aggressive approach,” he said.

“Meaning?” asked Chavel. “Your pulse gun could bore a hole of up to fifty meters at its highest setting, could it not?” Chavel looked at the weapon holstered at his side.

“We could damage it,” said Young.

“Jerome, we are more than likely never returning to this world and whatever this is will have to remain a mystery unless we get down to a better scanning depth,” said Tyrell in a matter of fact kind of way. They looked at Chavel.

“Hey, this is your show, guys. It’s just an old alien rock to me, but you’re right, Doctor Tyrell. A sustained shot at level six will carve a heavy chunk out of that bedrock.” Tyrell looked at Young, who was examining the outside of the structure.

“Do it,” he said finally. They stepped back when the current round of scans were completed. Tyrell withdrew the cube so that it was out of range of the rock face and Chavel drew his weapon.

“Now, take it easy, Lieutenant. Try not to blow up the whole rock face. It would be nice to keep it intact,” said Young, with his hands raised. Chavel lowered his gun and looked at him.

“Trust me,” he said, smiling. He slid his finger up the left side of the weapon, increasing its power, and aimed about six feet in front of the rock face. He steadied his feet and dug in his heels to protect against the recoil in this gravity. He fired a series of sustained blasts into the bedrock, throwing a plume of grey and white dust in the air. As the thick debris cleared, the rock face stood unscathed by Chavel’s attack. The hole that had been opened in the ground revealed something that made Young gasp.

“Holy shit,” he said, looking into the space. “Tyrell, get over here and get readings on this,” he said. The dust settled and revealed a
dark
-stoned structure with what looked like
circuit
-shaped carvings all over it. Tyrell set up the cube scanner at the edge of it and began taking readings. Seconds later the ground began to shake.

15

A
gathon Hull

19:00 Martian Standard

“D
id you feel something?” said Emerson to Boyett, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Stop flirting with me, stud, we have work to do,” she replied, not looking up from her laser welder. The hole in the side of the ship had numerous metallic sheets stretched across its surface. They had spent the last few hours erecting support pylons on the deck plating to reinforce the emergency hull segments put in place. Boyett did not have much time to take in the view, as she had endless amounts of joining rivets to seal into place. It was tedious work, not to mention unnerving to think that one of the passengers had intentionally tried to blow up the ship in hyperspace. She lost concentration for a minute when a vibration rippled through the ship and the laser welder slipped, nearly slicing off one of her fingers.

“Jesus,” she said. She sighed and looked down at her repair work. “When we find this fucker, I’m going to turn him inside out and throw him out an airlock,” she said, catching Emerson smiling out of the corner of his transparent faceplate.

“I have no doubt,” he answered, looking out over the surface of the hull and into the distance.

“What’s up?” asked Boyett, following his gaze. He looked back at her. Even in the suit she thought he was a very sexy man.
That was some night
, she thought to herself.
About time for another
.

“Thought I felt a tremor. You?” he asked. She righted herself and remained still for a moment. That was when the world from underneath her gave way. The shaking of the hull threw her on her back, as she saw Emerson struggling to grab hold of something. She suddenly found herself sliding away from the repair site and over the side of The Agathon’s hull. At that height the inbuilt shock absorbers wouldn’t protect her from serious injury and the grav lifts were locked onto the hull beside the damaged area of the ship.

The surface of The Agathon’s hull was virtually impossible to hold onto, as she slid over its smooth curves. She gritted her teeth and prepared for the fall as she felt a tug at her back. She looked back and saw Emerson on his front reaching out and grappling with her suit. He was still tethered to the hull. Boyett breathed a silent sigh of relief as they came to a stop just before the edge of the ship. It continued to shake.

“Barrington to all teams. Evacuate. We have serious seismic activity registering,” said the captain over the comms. In the distance Boyett began to see plumes of white smoke bursting out from the ground. She looked back at Emerson, who was scrambling to get a grip on the tether.

“Come on, Charly, that’s our cue,” he said, getting to his feet.

“Emerson to Bridge. We need two more minutes to seal this hull sheeting,” he said into his faceplate.

“Okay, Landon, two minutes,” came the reply. A burst of smoke erupted off into the distance.

“Alpha team, have you heard from Beta team?” Barrington said over the comms.

“Negative, Captain,” said Boyett.

“Keep comm links open. We can’t get hold of them,” he said.

“Sir, you want me go after them?” Boyett said.

“Too dangerous, Charly. Finish up and get your asses inside. I need you at flight,” he said.

“Understood,” she said. Another tremor nearly shook the pair of them off their feet, but they stood their ground well and reached the repair site.

“Are you all right, Lieutenant?” said Llewellyn, who was fusing a piece of hull with determination. Boyett gave her the thumbs up.

“Okay, let’s get the hell out of here,” Emerson said.

“Charly, Amanda, focus on getting that lateral shielding locked. We can finish the ventral bonding from inside the deck once we’re airborne, but right now we have two minutes so hustle people,” he said.

“Agathon, this is Beta team. We are incoming. We have injured,” it sounded like Chavel’s voice through heavy static. Boyett looked out over the grey and turbulent surface of the dead planet. She saw a large crack creeping its way across the ground.

“Fuck, the ground is opening up,” she said.

“Alpha team, inside now,” came the captain’s voice.

“Jesus, look at it,” said Llewelyn, who was frozen in place, watching the large crack that was now edging towards the resting ship. Steam and gas vented through the gaps, as they scrambled with their gear and headed over the edge of the ship and onto the grav lifts. As they lowered themselves onto the ground, Boyett thought she saw three small figures in the distance. It was difficult to make out with the dust and steam.

“Alpha team approaching ramp. I think I see them, Captain. About three kilometres east. I can get to them,” said Boyett, dropping her gear onto the ramp and getting ready to run.

“Negative, Lieutenant,” said Barrington.

“Agathon, we are unable to traverse terrain. We have multiple fissures opening up and Young is seriously injured. Requesting an evac,” said Chavel, out of breath.

“I’ll be there in sixty seconds, Captain,” said Boyett.

Agathon Bridge

“Get us up,” said Barrington to Boyett, who was trying to catch her breath after sprinting through the decks to get to the bridge.

“Beta team stand by, we are coming to your position. Hold there, do you copy?” Barrington said. No reply.

“Beta team, do you read?” Static. The bridge began to vibrate as Boyett engaged the thrusters, as it fought against the gravity of the planet and held its position over the surface.

“Take us to the last source of transmission, Charly,” Barrington said.

“Got it, sir. ETA thirty seconds,” she replied. The view screens at the head of the bridge showed a volatile surface with cracks and eruptions every few meters.

“There!” said Llewellyn, who was manning the navigation station. A few seconds later, three figures came into view. They were all lying on the ground. One of them was missing half a leg.

“Bring us to within ten meters, Charly,” Barrington shifted in his seat.

“Emerson, get ready to run,” he said.

“Doctor Brubaker. Are your medical teams in place?” he asked.

“We’re here, Captain,” she replied.

“Okay, Charly, put her down nice and easy,” said Barrington. The pylons had remained extended and the ship sank to the ground with relative ease.

“Go, Emerson,” he said into his comms.

“Going,” came the reply. The view screen showed the exterior of the ship and the three figures unmoving.

“Llewellyn, can you get me a reading on those gases?” Barrington said.

“High concentrations of methane, hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen fluoride and carbon monoxide. If their breathers are cracked in any way…” She shook her head at the captain, who acknowledged it. Barrington suddenly felt a familiar presence in his mind. He knew it wouldn’t be long before Carrie sensed what was happening.

Not now, Carrie, I need to focus
, he thought.

Sorry
, she said.
Anything I can do
?

He didn’t answer. The presence in his mind faded. The bridge began to shake. An enormous explosion of gas and dust blew out of a nearby hill.

“Sir, I’m getting tectonic instability readings from directly under the ship,” said Llewellyn.

“I think we’re right on top of a vent that’s about to blow,” she said, her eyes widening. Barrington looked at Boyett, whose hands were in the standby position on the thrusters. Unmoving. Emerson appeared on the screen with the other team in tow. They dragged the three out of shot of the viewer and seconds later came Emerson’s voice.

“We have them, sir. Lock it up and let’s go,” he said. The ship was rocked to one side and a high pressure expulsion of gas hit its port side.

“Charly!” shouted Barrington. Boyett’s hands moved quickly and she fired the ventral plasma thrusters at full blast. The ship rose quickly into the air, as the ground beneath it gave way into an eruption of gas and rock.

“Altitude one thousand feet and rising, sir. We’re clear,” she said. She let out a breath of air through tightly closed lips and continued her ascent.

“Barrington to engine room. How are the seals holding on deck three?” he said.

“Tosh here, she looks good. We’re pressurising the effected sections now. Stand by,” he said.

“We’ll hold at two thousand feet,” said Barrington. Several minutes passed as the bridge crew waited for the all clear from Tosh.

“Okay, bridge, we are showing one hundred percent on deck three,” said Tosh.

“Charly, take us one hundred thousand kilometres away from this planet and hold position,” said Barrington.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, as the view screens shifted to star fields on all angles. It rose steadily.

“I’ll be in the medical bay. Charly, you have the con,” said Barrington, as he made his way to the back of the bridge.